Rational Horse Shoeing and Wagon Making
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with rules, tables, recipes, etc., useful to
manufactures, blacksmiths, machinists,
well-drillers, engineers, liverymen,
horse-shoers, farmers, wagon-makers,
mechanics, amateurs and all others who have
occasion to perform the work for which this
book is primarily intended.
What prompted the author to prepare this book was the oft - repeated
question, by blacksmiths and mechanics of all kinds, as well as farmers:
"Is there a book treating on this or that?" etc., etc. To all these queries I
was compelled to answer in the negative, for it is a fact that from the time
of Cain, the first mechanic, there has never been a book written by a
practical blacksmith on subjects belonging to his trade. If, therefore,
there has ever been such a thing as "filling a long-felt want," this must
certainly be a case of that kind.
In medicine we find a wide difference of opinion, even amongst
practitioners of the same school, in treating diseases. Now, if this is so
where there is a system, and authority for the profession, how much
more so must there be a difference of opinion in a trade where every
practitioner is his own authority. I shall, therefore, ask the older members
of the blacksmith fraternity to be lenient in their judgment if my ideas
don't coincide with theirs. To the apprentice and journeyman I would say:
do as I do until you find a better way.
The author has been eminently successful in his practice, and his ideas
have been sought by others wherever he has been, blacksmiths coming
day while at work, compiling the same into articles at night. He is indebted to a number of writers for article in this
book treating on subjects belonging to their trades, in which they have been regarded as expert.
the variety of work he had to do. From the heavy axle and tire, down to the smallest rivet in the wagon, they were
all made by the smith. Bells and bits as well as the ornamental parts of the harness, they were all made by the
smith. From the crowbar and spade down to the butcher and pocket knife, they were all made by the smith. The
carpenter's tools, from the broad ax and adz down to the divider and carving steel, they were all made by the smith.
From the heavy irons in the fireplace down to the frying-pan and locks on the kitchen doors; knives and forks on the
dining-table, they were all made by the smith. From the gun on the shoulder of the soldier and the saber in the
hands of the officer, the spurs and pistol for the commander, they were all made by the smith. From the heavy
anchor and its chain to the smallest pulley in the rigging of the ship, they were all made by the smith. From the
weather vane on the church spire, and the clock in the tower down to the lock of the doors and the artistic iron
cross over the graves in the church yard, they were all made by the smith. No wonder, then, that the smith was
respected. Vulgar people swear by the devil, religious by the saints, but the Swedes (the makers of the best iron)
prefer to swear by the smith. The smith was a well-liked person in society, respected and even admired for his skill,
his gentlemanly behavior and good language. His stories and wit were the sole entertainment in many a social
gathering. Things have changed in the last few decades. Most of the articles formerly made by the smith are now
manufactured by machinery, and the respect for the smith is diminished in the same proportion. Not because there is
not enough of the trade left to command respect-there is yet more left than any man can successfully learn in a
short lifetime. But it has made it possible for men with less training and ability to enter the trade and consequently
lower the standing of the smith. The result is, that there is a complaint that the smith is not esteemed as formerly,
and I have been inclined to join in the lamentation. But instead of doing this I shall ask my brother smiths to unite
with me in an effort to elevate the craft.